European Resistance Movements, 1939-1945: First International COnference on the history of the Resistance Movements held at Liege-Bruxelles-Breendonk 14-17 September 1958

New York: Pergamon Press, 1960. Presumed first edition/first printing. Hardcover. Text in English, French, German. xvii, 410 p. 3 fold. maps. 22 cm. Footnotes. English, French, or German. This work was reviewed by the Central Intelligence Agency when published. The review was released in 1993: " Book review of European Resistance Movements 1939-1945 CIA HISTORICAL REVIEW PROGRAM RELEASE IN FULL 22 SEPT 93 THE WARTIME RESISTANCE EUROPEAN RESISTANCE MOVEMENTS 1939-1945. Presentations at the First International Conference on the History of the Resistance Movements. (London: Pergamon Press. 1960. Pp. 410. 40/--. ) The First International Conference of which this is the record was held in Belgium in September 1958. The papers presented include a keynote address reviewing the broad course of the Resistance (and quite cutting in its resentful depreciation of American help) and several studies exploring each of five of its particular aspects--resistance in Germany and Italy, the psychological war, Jewish resistance, the maquis and other guerrillas, and the role of the Allies. Of more current interest than the content of these papers is the East-West political battle that has developed over the interpretation of the history of the Resistance. To the First Conference historians from Russia, Poland, and Yugoslavia as well as from appropriate countries of the West had been invited, and they had originally agreed to attend. At the last minute, however, the delegations from the three Communist countries decided not to come, the Poles and Russians because invitations had also been extended to General Bor-Komorowski, leader of the Polish underground army at the time of the Warsaw uprising, and to some of his colleagues associated with the wartime government-in-exile in London. The Yugoslavs did submit a paper on their partisans' struggle, and it is included in the volume. The First International Conference has now been followed by a second, held in Milan, Italy, on 26-29 March 1961. This time the USSR and all its European Satellites, including East Germany, sent delegations. The "London Poles" were apparently not invited. No formal invitation went to any historical or official group in the United States, but five U.S. scholars were in attendance. At the Second Conference the Bloc presentations showed a well-planned and concerted effort to rewrite the history of World War II and its resistance movements in terms of Communist dogma, claiming for the USSR and the Communist parties the largest share of credit for the liberation of Europe and support of the Resistance. Through all the Bloc texts and speeches ran a major theme--namely, that the main purpose of the Resistance was not primarily to aid in the military defeat of the Axis forces and to liberate the occupied territories (as the Bloc charged the British and Americans viewed it), for this was being accomplished in any event by the military might of the advancing Red armies. The "anti-popular" European governments which had been in power at the beginning of the war had, according to the Bloc thesis, abandoned their people and the fight against fascism, and this abandonment made necessary the creation of resistance movements in which the "progressive" masses of the people, led in large measure (although admittedly not completely) by the Communists and the workers, could participate. And the overriding purpose of these movements, in the Communist view, was to make certain that the "anti-popular and reactionary" regimes did not return after the liberation to oppress and exploit the workers and the masses. In short, the Bloc aim at the conference was to downgrade the military aspects of the Resistance and its Anglo-American and other non-Communist elements, picturing it as a social mass movement which the USSR well understood and fostered and in which the Communists proudly played the dominant role. In their corollary effort to discredit the part played by the West, and particularly by Great Britain and the United States, in the Resistance, the prepared Bloc texts and speakers made the following salient points: That the "phoney war" of 1939-40 was. Condition: Good. No dust jacket. Ex-library. Usual library markints. Pencil erasure and small tear at fep. Some pages creased.

Keywords: Guerrilla War, Partisans, Resistance Movements, Helmut Krausnick, Psychological Warfare, Clandestine Press, Jewish Resistance, Olga Wormser, {hilip Friedman, Bor Komorowski, Brajuskovie-Dimitrye, Ivan Gerard, Leon Halkin, Concentration Camps

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